Personal profile

Personal Statement

Before joining the School of Education, initially on secondment in 2012, David enjoyed a varied and successful teaching career of 17 years in primary schools within Glasgow and was awarded the professional title of Chartered Teacher in recognition of the quality of his classroom practice and expertise across a number of curricular areas. He was heavily involved in a wide range of local authority and national initiatives notably in mathematical problem solving, social studies, science and technology.

David has taught on a varied range of classes across the BA and PGDE programmes in Primary Education and also within the BA in Childhood Practice. In module leader roles, he has been instrumental in the redesign of classes to support the STEM agenda. He has internationalised his practice in this area in working with influential organisations in China such as the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission and is supporting other colleagues within the School to do likewise in their own areas of expertise.

From 2014-2017, he was the Depute Director of the Strathclyde China Institute (SCI) and played a key role in international student recruitment into courses within the HaSS and Business School Faculties as well as promoting research and knowledge exchange collaborations with a number of high ranking Chinese partners.

As recently appointed Faculty Director for Student Mobility (China), David’s role now involves the successful promotion and organisation of inward/ outward mobility for students interested in visiting Scotland, China and South Korea for comparative education, language and cultural experiences. In supporting this work, he also leads a module which introduces visiting international students to the Scottish system and encourages reflections on education in their own contexts.

David's part-time PhD is now entering its final phase. Supervised by Professor Ian Rivers, it examines the teaching of Chinese culture in Scottish primary schools. This links to national policy developments and to the on-going work of the Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools, based in the HaSS Faculty, with whom he enjoys a very strong relationship.

David sits on a number of Faculty/University wide internationalisation groups and is asked to give his perspective on working with Chinese partners. He is also an elected member of the Faculty Board of Study representing the School of Education. From October 2018 - September 2022, David will serve as the external examiner for the MA (Hons) degree in Primary Education at the University of Aberden.

In recognition of the breadth and quality of his various contributions, David was promoted to Senior Teaching Fellow. He has also been recently nominated for a Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in promoting study abroad opportinities in the School of Education and is the proud recipient of a 'Strathclyde Medal' for his team leadership in creating and managing knowledge exchange opportunities with Chinese partners.

Teaching Interests

Effective teaching of STEM in the primary school.

Interdisciplinary/ cross-curricular learning.

Chinese education, language and culture.

Student exchange programmes with Chinese partner universities

Expertise & Capabilities

Current module leader roles:

BA3: Science, Technology and ICT

PGDE: Creative Contexts for Learning (Technologies)

Introduction to Scottish Education for International Students

Having successfully completed a postgraduate qualification in ‘Supporting Teacher Learning’, David has used this work as part of enhanced partnership initiatives to engage school colleagues in joint assessment approaches of BA and PGDE students on placements.

David visits China on a regular basis to work with partner universities in promoting opportunities to engage with Strathclyde and has recently extended this work to include South Korea. He has successfully designed, implemented and evaluated new student programmes in comparative education and language study delivered at Strathclyde and Asian contexts. These have opened up opportunities for large numbers of students across the HaSS Faculty as a whole. He would welcome requests from other international partners to open up new models of collaboration.

He is an enthusiastic learner of Mandarin and is looking ahead to the implementation of the 1+2 languages agenda and how Chinese language and culture can be promoted through this in Scottish primaries.

Research Interests

The teaching of Mandarin Chinese as second/ third language in Scottish primary schools

The teaching of Chinese culture in Scottish primary schools

Comparative education with a Chinese/ Scottish focus

Study abroad experiences of student teachers

The promotion of STEM learning in the primary school

As part of his PhD, David is currently undertaking a multi-layered study to explore the experiences of those delivering Mandarin Chinese in a range of schools within 3 Scottish Local Authorities. The views of pupils learning the language are also very much central to the aims of the research. This work will provide an innovative perspective on the teaching of Chinese language and culture within the context of the Scottish Government’s 1+2 policy agenda, due for full implementation in 2021.

Education/Academic qualification

Master of Science, University of Strathclyde

Bachelor of Education, University of Strathclyde

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